Posted by sonya on 11/24/08 12:54pm
Msg #270470

PickaNotary.com SCAM!! BEWARE!!

Scam! This co. sent out email to sign up notaries to their website $19.95. My information is not posted, they don't return phone calls or emails and now their site is down. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS LIKE I DID! Their site is: http://www.pickanotary.com/

Reply by DellaCa on 11/24/08 1:07pm
Msg #270471

I signed up with them I believe at the beginning of this year they never could get the information correct so I was refunded at that time.I don't think they ever got it right for me or others that signed up.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 11/24/08 1:33pm
Msg #270476

A word to the wise ...

We are receiving a lot of emails these days asking us to sign up with this service or that service in order to increase our business. Now you need to ask yourselves, where did they get our info in the first place, Hmmmmm? Now it's my opinion, and only my opinion that these sites are being created by people who only want to make a little extra income quickly and they after they collect those fees from a few hundred people, they are gone. We have seen it time and time again. One click this, and find-a-notary that. Here today, gone tomorrow. I get 3 or 4 emails per week. Personally, I use the services that show up when you enter my city and notary into the search engine on the first page. This site being one of those.

Now perhaps when (or if) things pick up again, maybe a new notary listing site will return results. Meanwhile, everyone do yourself a favor and take the money you were going to spend on that ad with a new site and print yourself some extra business cards, post cards and flyers and do some footwork to various businesses, insurance offices, banks, title companies, assisted living centers, hospitals, police stations .. whatever and leave them. Then buy a sign or two to put on your car (see PAW's site) and keep your briefcase with you at all times even if you are making a dump run, going to church or grocery store. You would be surprised how many people may need a notary on weekends at just about the time you drive by with your cell phone number on your car.

JMHO.

Reply by sonya on 11/24/08 1:43pm
Msg #270478

Re: A word to the wise ...

You are SOOO right! Great advise!

Reply by Gary_CA on 11/24/08 2:27pm
Msg #270488

I've got 2 premium listings

One here (well I did have, it expired recently I need to renew, I will) and one on that other site Harry doesn't like us to mention.

That's enough for lots of work and every damn fool on the planet that wants to sell something to notaries to find me.

Reply by MW/VA on 11/24/08 3:16pm
Msg #270492

Re: A word to the wise ...

Great advise, Glenn. In my experience, there are only 3 major sites to list, this being one, where almost all my business generates from. Many of these other sites are a scam, as you have pointed out.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 11/24/08 4:44pm
Msg #270506

I took a closer look, they are based in Texas and .

The site has 3 testimonials at the bottom. If you search for those people, or search the cities that they profess to be in, they don't exist. They also don't exist when you use a real site such as this one or the other one that Harry doesn't like mentioned. The phone number is an answering service.

Any of you who signed up hopefully paid with a credit card. Call your card company, tell them that you dispute the charge because you are not getting what you paid for and they will give you credit and charge them back.

And don't feel bad about it. It's a learning experience. When I first began, I spent a lot of money on sites that don't exist anymore that I wish I had back, but I also got my money back in many cases.

Good Luck.

Reply by MichiganAl on 11/24/08 8:11pm
Msg #270534

I've got paid listings in 4 places

They have a proven history of results. Why anyone wastes money on sites with no track record and no history of results is hard to understand. This includes spending a thousand dollars a year for online yellow pages without any track record of results for those in our industry. Throwing your money at different places hoping that something yields results is a poor excuse for a business plan to say the least.

Footwork? Now there's an idea that I'll bet is sadly underutilized by most in this business.

Reply by HB/CA on 11/24/08 3:56pm
Msg #270501

I received the email too. I was very suspicious that the email advertised the $19.95 price for "only 24 hours". Days later the $19.95 offer was still there. I also tried to search their site and see how many notaries in my area were listed and no results or an error message was returned. I hope too many people weren't taken in. In the future I will approach these sites as though I'm looking for a notary to see if it's legit.